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ThaRegul8r · 10-17-2007, 08:37 PM

You're the GM of a team. Your team will be facing a prime Shaquille O'Neal in one month. Your job is to put together a frontcourt that you feel will best be able to deal with O'Neal as best as possible. You have a time machine and can pick from any frontcourt player ever to set foot on an NBA court. Whomever you pick will have complete access to all the modern amenities and with the time machine you can take as much time as is necessary for them to take advantage of all the advancements that have been made since their playing days so that they will be completely up to speed and on the same footing as all the contemporary players who had things that weren't available to them during the time they played(done in consideration of the people who invariably say modern players are better athletes to equalize for modern technology). With that in mind, who do you select?

Take into account not only the starting frontcourt players, but also whomever you're going to have coming off the bench. You have a 12-man roster, so however many spots you're going to devote to your frontcourt.

BadBaronRudigor · 10-20-2007, 07:14 PM

There are three centers in NBA history better than Shaq . . . Wilt, Kareem and Russell, . . . that's the starting point. I'd start with Kareem and Russell as Russ can handle the rebounding at a Wilt equivalent level and Kareem the scoring without the free throw shooting issues. Add the Celtic era Walton, Duncan and Bird for backups, Walton has shown he can handle the backup egowise (I don't think Wilt could) and he was more effective than either HOF Robert Parish or Kevin McHale in his necessarily limited minutes there plus Duncan for his versatility and class (and again, Duncan is probably the most ego free of the all-time great bigs) plus Bird for his outside shooting and change of pace ability.

Najee · 10-30-2007, 07:16 AM

On a typical 12-man team, you're going to have seven frontcourt players. If you are going to face Shaquille O'Neal in his prime, you're going to need a massive center to stay behind him, rugged power forwards to keep him honest and small forwards who can help out on defense while driving the lane on offense.

CENTERS: Wilt Chamberlain, Artis Gilmore.

The starting center will have to be Wilt (seven-foot-one, 275 lbs.) with The A-Train (7-2, 250 lbs. and considered one of the strongest players ever) as Wilt's backup. Both are strong rebounders and shot-blockers who will lean on The Diesel. Moreover, both big men also will make Shaq (who is not quite as effective defending as he is on offense) work hard on the defensive end.

POWER FORWARDS: Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Maurice Lucas.

The Mailman is known for his scoring and defensive rebounding, but he was also a very underrated (and dirty) defensive player. He's one of those players who will not back down to Shaq in any manner. Barkley definitely won't, as seen by his takedown of O'Neal in the 1999 playoffs. And speaking of enforcers, we may as well mention the Godfather of this position, Lucas. Lucas' enforcer reputation tends to make people overlook he was an exceptional scorer and rebounder.

Other players who can be plugged into this model for the center/power forward rotation are the latter-day Dennis Rodman, Tim Duncan, Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld and Nate Thurmond.

SMALL FORWARDS: Marques Johnson, Larry Nance.

Johnson was known for his drives to the basket and his solid all-around game (particularly on help defense) will force Shaq to come into the lane to stop him. Nance had a good inside-out game and the size (6-10) to help out on Shaq. He also was a great defensive player who has the most blocked shots for a forward in NBA history.

Small forwards who can fit in here as well are Bernard King (great turnaround on the baseline), James Worthy (great first step) and Grant Hill (same as Worthy).

**Hakeem** · 11-10-2007, 09:08 PM

David Robinson is the guy who gave Shaq the most problems. He was strong enough to handle him, his length and explosive leap bothered his shots, and he stripped him and made the post entry pass difficult. On the offensive end, Shaq would rarely come out to guard him, so Robinson kept hitting jumpers. And Shaq was too slow when Robinson drove to the basket. He even admitted that he found it tough to defend him. Shaq almost never admitted weaknesses.

Also, if you have Robinson at center, you can choose from any power forward ever to play alongside him, as the low post will be mostly free. So, while Karl Malone probably isn't the very best help defender available, I'd choose him.

BadBaronRudigor · 11-12-2007, 07:37 AM

Najee, with all those past scorers, you better have an outside shot at the 3 . . . as much as I loved Larry Nance and Marques . . . they were big SFs who worked inside a lot though Marques did have a nice midrange game.

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